"Twilight! Twilight wake up!" Spike yelled, shaking the unicorn from her sleep. She gazed at him, her vision blurry, with one eyebrow raised.
"What? Why?" She mumbled.
"It's Rarity! I watched that tape – I know, I shouldn't have, but I did – and she's in serious trouble! We've gotta go!" The urgency in Spike's voice and the panic in his eyes convinced Twilight. She leapt from her bed and stood proudly, stumbled slightly, flicked Spike onto her back and raced downstairs. She flung the door open, slammed it shut behind her and tore through the storm towards Carousel Boutique. The skies were blackened by clouds and rain restricted the view dramatically. With a flash, Sparkle's horn was generating a beacon of light, and the way was clear.

"What was o-" Twilight yelled above the rain before being cut off by a huge crack of thunder. The storm had hit Ponyville at full force.
"Huh?" Spike yelled.
"What was on the tape?"
"I have no idea! It was kind of like a pony but it had a lot of arms and no face! It must have scared her senseless, who knows what she's doing or where she's going! We need to calm her down before she hurts herself!" Spike yelled as quickly as he could. Twilight didn't quite know how to react. What Spike had just described was impossible. Nonetheless, she felt ashamed of herself for shrugging off Rarity's insanity like that. Although the ponies in Ponyville often displayed an edge of insanity, she should still be there for her friend. Twilight ran as fast as she could manage, forcing Spike to grab hold of her mane tightly with both claws to prevent himself being bucked off into the muddy ground.

Within minutes, they had arrived at Carousel Boutique. Twilight knocked hurriedly on the door, much like Rarity had done at her library less than an hour previous, but received no answer. She knocked harder and faster, beginning to grow very worried.
"I'll check the windows." Spike stated, scrambling off Twilight's back and clawing up the walls, leaving several scratches that he would have to blame on somepony else later on, and peeked through the window.
"What's she doing?" Twilight asked.
"She's not there."
"What? How can she not be there? Where would she be?"
"Oh, you want to know where she is? Well, I'm glad you asked me, because I clearly know."
"Not the time for sarcasm, Spike."
"You're right, it's time for action." The dragon let himself flop into the pristine grass around the house and charged at the door. One hasty puff of fire later, and the door was in embers. He sprinted inside, with the call of "Rarity?" echoing through with him. Twilight trotted in behind him, not wanting to break and enter, but figuring the door was already destroyed and it was for her friend, after all.

"Rarity!" Spike called again, panic climbing in his voice.
"Where are you?" Sparkle called out after. Spike turned his head in annoyance.
"Are you expecting her to pop her head out and say 'here I am'?" He huffed.
"Your sarcasm isn't helping the situation." Sparkle pouted.
"Your stupidity isn't helping either!" Spike yelled, far more aggressively than he would usually talk to his closest friend. But the love of his life was in danger, and emotion was overwhelming him and driving him forward. "RARITY!"
"What's all the yelling?" A filly called weakly from the bedroom, just as Spike was preparing to barge his way in. Seconds later, the door opened timidly, and Sweetie Belle's head poked out.

"Oh, we're just looking for your sister. Have you seen her?" Twilight cooed gently.
"I didn't even know she had left. Rarity never tells me anything." Sweetie sighed. "She's been trying real hard to be a good sister but, look, she's not even here when I've just had a nightmare." The filly hung her head and poked at the carpet with her front hoof.
"Oh, you had a nightmare?" Twilight asked, tilting her head and frowning with concern. Behind her, Spike gritted his teeth and cracked his knuckles loudly as a reminder of more pressing issues, but Twilight failed to notice. He hurriedly paced towards the burnt remains of the door towards the storm, determined to find the beautiful white pony.
"Yeah, this weird, tall white pony with lots of black arms and no face attacked Rarity…" Sweetie spat out, still visibly upset about the dream. Twilight stared at her in shock, and Spike's muscles seized up in an instant, mid-stride, causing him to fall face-first to the ground with a thud. He rose to his feet, and he and Twilight stared at each other very nervously. Had Sweetie Belle seen the same tape as Spike had and had a nightmare about it? Or was something more out of the ordinary and sinister going on?

"Sweetie… it… it was just a dream…" Twilight spat out, unsure of what to say. "Just… just go back to bed, Rarity's fine, she'll be back by the time you get up, and you can have breakfast with your sister." She forced a smile. Sweetie Belle smiled up at the unicorn with genuine thanks.
"Okay." She muttered, before cantering back into the bedroom to sleep. Twilight sighed heavily.
"See, Twilight?" Spike implored. "There's something weird going on here! This thing has taken Rarity! We gotta go find her!"
"Spike, calm down. It's just a coincidence. What you're saying is impossible. It's supernatural."
"Impossible? Like Pinkie's twitching? Supernatural? Like the poison joke? Come on, Twilight, don't be so close minded for once! If not for yourself or me then at least for the beautiful Rarity!" Spike was too determined to help his crush that he didn't even realise the word 'beautiful' had slipped out.
"You're only this worried because you have a crush on her. Please, be reasonable, Spike." Sparkle pleaded of the dragon. "We'll just stay here for a bit, clean up the mud and water we've dragged in, do something about that door you burnt down for no reason, and we'll go home. By tomorrow, Rarity will turn up safe and sound."
"You can't seriously believe that! You saw the look on Rarity's face, and if you saw the tape I saw, you'd know that we have to find her!"
"Spike, will you just listen to me? We have no idea where she is! Even if she were in danger, we have no idea where to look! The best thing to do would be to let the royal guards know, and you won't even be able to find them. The only reason we got here is because I can create light, but you'll just get lost in the storm!" Spike retaliated with a belch of fire, lighting up the entire room for a moment. Twilight conceded.
"Alright, so you can see. Fine. But I'm staying here."
"Come on, Twilight, you can run so much faster than I can. Please, just help me out?"
"No, Spike! We can't just leave Rarity's house like this just because of your irrational fear for her safety!" Spike was done arguing. Without another word, he leapt onto Twilight's back, grabbed hold of her mane with one claw, and nudged her in the side with his foot.
"Come on, let's just go!" He half begged, half ordered. Twilight, too, was done arguing. With one powerful buck, Spike was launched off her back and sent tumbling across the room. He collided heavily with the far wall, and behind him, a cabinet of fabrics came crashing down. The glass doors of the cabinet shattered, but otherwise, there was no damage. Spike had disappeared from Twilight's view.

"Spike? Spike!" Forgetting their argument, the unicorn heaved the cabinet aside with her magic and leapt over the mess of broken glass. The dragon moaned weakly.
"Ow…" He groaned.
"I'm sorry, Spike." Twilight murmured. She felt around with her hooves but couldn't find her friend. She let her horn glow once more, lighting up the room. She gasped loudly at what she saw: Spike hadn't just hit the wall, he'd knocked down a portion of it, revealing a previously hidden part of Carousel Boutique. Within it lied a groaning Spike, several particularly hideous dresses (hideous even to a fashion-ignorant pony like Twilight Sparkle), numerous rare gems and, most importantly, a massive pile of tapes.

To be continued...

Author's note: This story will span 26 chapters and contain 26 entries, but there will not be an entry in each chapter, as you've probably noticed by reading this fair. Well done, you shrewd little detective, you.